Now more than ever, data is everywhere. According to Forbes, there has been more data generated in the last two years than in any time in human history. An estimated 1.7 megabytes of new information is generated every second for every human being on the planet. Sadly, less than 0.5% of that data is ever analyzed and used. 

Throughout each stage of a marketing campaign, marketers are able to capture valuable data that can be analyzed and transformed into useful insights and strategies. Marketing has moved a long way from the days of mass-targeted advertising. In 2020, there is no excuse for not knowing what your customers want or whether your marketing efforts are effectively driving results. The degree to which you can successfully analyze and implement data can make or break your marketing strategy. Here are six things you can and should do to make your data work for you:

1. Personify your customer. Data can give valuable insights into the lives and behavior of your customers and allow you to identify with them. What are their goals, challenges, biggest pain points? By learning how to think like your customers, you can develop strategies and design products that better meet and predict their needs.

2. Optimize content quality & increase engagement. When you understand who your customers are and how they think, you can develop content that is relevant to them. Through data analysis, you can determine which content is or isn’t working, and why. Once you’ve learned to communicate your message to consumers in a way that resonates with them, they will be more likely to share, like, and generally engage with your message.

3. Enhance user experience. Social media activity, browsing patterns, online purchase behavior – these are just a few of the things that data can tell us about a user’s web journey. User experience matters – good analysis and implementation of data insights can help you create a seamless user experience for your customer and ultimately drive business.

4. Monitor the health of your marketing campaigns. By regularly monitoring data output across various marketing channels, marketers can glean important information on how well their campaigns are performing – What kind of click-through-rate are you seeing across email marketing? How is SEO affecting your organic rankings? Are your Google Ads driving conversions? When we understand the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, you can tweak things as necessary and stop a crisis before it happens, as well as channel resources where it matters most for your brand.

5. Measure results. When people think marketing, they often think flashy ads, catchy taglines, or sleek web designs. We love a catchy tagline just as much as anyone else, but if it doesn’t drive results for your business, how much does it really matter? Data allows you to measure whether the changes you implement are really working and continually refine them until they deliver.

6. Capture market trends and understand your competition. Lastly, data allows marketers to stay up to date on the latest market trends and understand how they client stack up against competitors. By analyzing trends and competitors’ data, you can create innovative strategies that keep your brand at the forefront of customers’ minds.